Welcome to VCBay Weekly News Roundup. Here are some important developments in the startup space and major funding rounds last week –
1. WiT Startup Pitch Competition calls for entries from all over the world
The WiT’s annual Startup Pitch competition is back and is calling for entries from all over the world. Bolstered by the continuing collaboration with Amazon Web Services, this is WiT’s fourth year in the running with support from AWS Travel & Hospitality.
AWS will provide over US$ 250,000 worth of AWS credits and technical support towards WiT Startup Pitch 2021 through the AWS Activate program. This program provides startups with tools and resources to help grow and scale their businesses.
Mobility
1. Full-stack mobility startup Automovill bags US$ 500K in Bridge funding
Automovill, an Indian startup offering automotive and car repair offerings at a cost-effective price, has secured US$ 500K in a Bridge investment round led by Mumbai Angels on 20 July 2021.
The investment round featured Mumbai Angels as the lead investor with participation from existing investor Northeast Venture Fund. The startup has managed to raise approximately US$ 770K, in total, to date.
Fintech
1. California-based Paystand raises USD 50 Million in Series C funding round
On 23rd July 2021, California-based Paystand announced that it raised USD 50 Million in a Series C funding round. It is a B2B fintech startup that has raised USD 82 Million in funding till now.
This funding round was led by NewView Capital, this round also saw the participation of King River Capital and SoftBank’s SB Opportunity Fund.
2. Visa acquires CurrencyCloud in a deal of USD 963 Million
On Thursday, Visa announced that it will be acquiring London-based CurrencyCloud in a deal of USD 963 Million (GBP 700 Million). CurrencyCloud is an API developer that powered currency exchange service and remittance, the company is getting near to becoming a financial service giant.
In mid of 2019, CurrencyCloud raised USD 80 Million in a funding round in which Visa also participated. The company values at nearly USD 500 Millon, this acquisition will be a significant leap in the valuation.
Marketing
1. New York-based Tailor Brands raises USD 50 Million in a Series C funding
On Thursday (22.07.2021), New York-based Tailor Brands announced that it raised USD 50 Million in a Series C funding round. The startup automates the process of marketing and branding.
This round was led by GoDaddy as a strategic partner and saw participation was OurCrowd and the previous backers’ Mangrove Capital Partners, Pitango Growth, Disruptive VC, Armat Group and Richard Rosenblatt, founder of Whip Media. Till now Tailor Brands has raised USD 70 Million since it was founded.In 2018, the company raised USD 15.5 Million in Series B round.
Artificial Intelligence
1. Cyber risk management startup Safe Security secures US$ 33M in Series B funding
US-based Safe Security, a startup offering an effective platform to corporations for tackling and assuaging cyber risk in real-time, has raised US$ 33 million in Series B funding led by UK’s BT Group on 21 July 2021.
The funding round featured BT Group as the lead investor with participation from John Chambers, CEO of JC2 Ventures. The startup has raised, in total, US$ 49.2 million to date owing to the support from additional investors, namely, MS&AD Ventures, InnoVen Capital and many others.
2. Seoul-based AI startup Lunit raises US$ 26M in Series C funding round
South Korean AI startup Lunit, which combats cancer through AI-powered imaging biomarkers, raised US$ 26 million in a Series C funding round on 20 July 2021.
Guardant Health, a Nasdaq-listed precision oncology firm invested in Lunit. The company had last raised cash from the first tranche of its Series C funding round with participation from Asian investors – Shinhan Investment, InterVest, IMM Investment, Kakao Ventures and Lenovo Group’s Legend Capital. To date, the company has raised US$ 72.5M in funding.
3. US-based AI startup Prodigal raised US$ 12 million in series A from Menlo Ventures
Headquartered in California, USA, AI startup Prodigal secured a fundraise of US$ 12 million in Series A funding from Menlo Ventures on July 22, 2021. It is an info-tech startup that offers software for lenders to upgrade their work and communication with borrowers from collection agencies with insights from fundamental customer interactions from agents to AI solutions.
The funding round saw the participation of existing investors Accel, Y Combinator, MGV, and lending industry veterans like Plaid COO Eric Sager, Carlypso co-founder Nicholas Hinrichsen and former American Express executive Anand Joshi also partook in the venture round.
Medtech
1. Australian Medtech startup Omniscient Neurotechnology raised US$ 30 million in series B funding and launches Quicktome
Headquartered in Sydney, Omniscient Neurotechnology has secured a fundraise of US$ 30 million in series B funding and launches a neurosurgical planning software, Quicktome. The venture round was held on July 19, 2021, and led by several Australian billionaires, valuing the company at $295 million to date. Omniscient Neurotechnology is developing an artificial intelligence software to examine the networks of electrical connections uncommon to each person’s brain.
2. Indian Healthcare startup Eka.Care raises US$4.5 million in a venture funding round
Healthcare startup Eka.Care has raised US$ 4.5 million in a seed funding venture held on July 20, 20121. The funding round was the startups’ very first fundraiser led by grappling early-age investors like 3one4Capital, Eximius Ventures, Speciale Invest and angel investors.
Angel investors that were witnessed participating in the round include MakeMyTrip founder Deep Kalra, MakeMyTrip co-founder Rajesh Magow, Cred founder Kunal Shah, INDMoney founder Ashish Kashyap, 314e Corporation founder Abhishek Begerhotta, Unacademy co-founder Gaurav Munjal, Udaan co-founder Sujeet Kumar, Razorpay co-founder Shashank Kumar, Terra.do founder Anshuman Bapna, Tracxn CEO Abhishek Goyal, redBus founder Phanindra Sama, redBus CEO Prakash Sangam, Haptik CEO Aakrit Vaish, and Arjun Seth, managing director.
Greentech
1. Indian biotech Sea6 Energy raises US$ 9M in Series B funding
Bengaluru-based Sea6 Energy, a marketplace utilizing the unlimited potential of the oceans sustainably and ethically, has secured US$9 million in a Series B investment round led by Aqua Spark on 21 July 2021.
The investment round featured Netherlands-based Aqua Spark as the lead investor with participation from Singapore-based Silverstrand Capital. The startup has raised approximately US$ 18 million, in total, to date.
SaaS
1. US-based business telecom services provider Lightyear raises US$ 13.1M
US-based Lightyear, a provider of software to buy and manage business telecom services (internet, voice, WAN, data centre) through a single dashboard, raised US$ 13.1M in a Series A round of funding on 15 July 2021.
The funding round was led by Ridge Ventures with participation from Zigg Capital and other individual investors. The total capital raised by the startup stands at US$ 16.8 million.
Proptech
1. Zurich-based proptech startup PriceHubble raises US$ 34 million in series B
With being the fastest growing proptech startup in Switzerland, PriceHubble is now looking forward to diving deep with its capital venture. The leading AI analytics and data startup has successfully secured US$ 34 million in a Series B funding round on July 19 2021, led by Digital+ Partners and other notable investors like TX Ventures, Latitude Ventures with selective participation of business angels like Dr Martin Enderle. The funding round also saw the participation of the already subsisting investor base, Swiss Life and btov/Helvetia Venture Fund.
Cryptocurrency and Blockchain
1. UK-based blockchain startup Interlay raises US$3 million in a seed funding round
First debuted on Polkadot, Interlay has raised US$ 3.04 Million in a seed funding venture on July 14 2021, led by IOSG Ventures and co-investors Blockchain.com, Zeeprime, Launchub Ventures, CMS Holdings, KR1, Hypersphere, and angels as other significant participants.
Founded in 2019 by Alexei Zamyatin and Dominik Harz is a fintech/bitcoin (BTC) interoperability platform built on an extensive system backed by top-tier research that enables users to invest, earn and pay with Bitcoin on any blockchain.
Agritech
1. Indian B2B Agritech platform Vegrow raises US$ 13M in Series A funding round
India-based Vegrow, a business-to-business (B2B) agritech platform partnering with farmers, aggregating supply and selling to organized demand through partnership, raised US$ 13 million in a Series A funding round on 21 July 2021.
The funding round was co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Elevation Capital, with participation from existing investors Matrix Partners India, Ankur Capital, Better Capital and Titan Capital.
Edtech
1. US-based edtech startup Sololearn rakes in US$ 24 million in series B funding
Sololearn, an e-learning platform, has raised US$ 24 million in a Series B funding round on July 21, 2021. Drive Capital led the venture round with the participation of Learn Capital and Prosus Ventures (who also partook Series A round of US$ 5.6 million in 2016) as the valuation soars to US$ 30.9 million to date.
Sololearn is a California-based edtech startup established in 2014 by Davit Kocharyan and Yeva Hyusyan. SoloLearn enables students to learn and practice a skill of their choice, free of cost.
E-commerce
1. Fashion E-commerce platform for formalwear – Queenly raises US$ 6.3M
US-based fashion e-commerce platform Queenly, a leading marketplace and search engine for the formalwear industry, raised US$ 6.3 million on 23 July 2021.
The funding round was led by Andreessen Horowitz. Other investors include Y Combinator, The House Fund, Interlace Ventures, Dragon Capital, NextView Ventures, MyAsiaVC and Shakti Venture Capital. Queenly also has A-list angel investors such as the former CTO of Uber, Thuan Pham, CPO of Uber, Manik Gupta, CEO of Lambda School, Austen Allred, CEO & co-founder of Mercari, Ryo Ishizuka, CEO of Fitbit, James Park, CMO & co-founder of ScentBird, Rachel ten Brink, and the cofounders of Caviar, Jason Wang, Shawn Tsao and Andy Zhang.
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